Reitman tells the website that Ramis' death did have something to do with his decision to step down. "A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters."

The director also spoke on the hang-ups of the film, telling Deadline that they had some trouble getting in touch with Bill Murray, and eventually started the script process over, leaving out Murray's beloved character Dr. Peter Venkman altogether.

"It's a version of Ghostbusters that has the originals in a very minor role," Reitman revealed. "When I came back from Harold's funeral, it was really moving and it made me think about a lot of things. ...I just finally met with Amy and Doug Belgrad when I got back. I said I'd been thinking about it for weeks, that I'd rather just produce this Ghostbusters. I told them I thought I could help but let's find a really good director and make it with him. So that’s what we've agreed will happen. I didn't want all kinds of speculation about what happened with me, that is the real story."